Abroad|26/08/20

BELGIUM: compensation for Covid-19 victims

Home > The news of EUROGIP and occupational risks in Europe > BELGIUM: compensation for Covid-19 victims

Employees as well as pupils and trainees in the health care sector who are at a significantly increased risk of being infected with the coronavirus are eligible for compensation for occupational disease (OD). Of course the infection must be medically related to the risky work activity.

These employees reported 6,046 cases of Covid-19 to Fedris (as of 11 August), 68.8% of which came from the private sector. More than 8 out of 10 reports (84%) concern women. The 40-45 age group is slightly more affected.

As of August 11, 2,840 claims for PM were registered, again for these employees in the health care sector. Of the 637 decisions already taken, 59 concerned a rejection of the claim and 452 concerned the recognition of a period of temporary incapacity: from 2 to 4 weeks (68% of these decisions), from 4 to 6 weeks (15%) and more than 6 weeks (17%). The other cases are currently being analysed by the administration. It should be noted that self-employed workers, including general practitioners, physiotherapists, home care nurses, etc., do not fall within the scope of the MP legislation and therefore cannot receive compensation under this heading in the case of Covid-19.

Employees in the crucial sectors and essential services (exhaustive legal list) who worked from 18 March to 17 May 2020 inclusive are also entitled to compensation in case of Covid-19, but under the so-called “open system”. In this group, 34 claims for compensation were registered, including two following the death of the victim.

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